The Canadian industry is paying tribute to distribution veteran Tony Cianciotta, who died last month (June 26). He was 85.
Cianciotta began his career in 1965 in Toronto as a film buyer for J. Arthur Rank Organization, which became Cineplex Odeon in 1980.
He went on to work in senior executive roles such as vice president and general manager at 20th Century Fox, Canada, and senior vice president, film at Cineplex Odeon, among others, before becoming senior vice president and general manager at Alliance Releasing from 1992-97.
In this role he championed Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting and many others,...
Cianciotta began his career in 1965 in Toronto as a film buyer for J. Arthur Rank Organization, which became Cineplex Odeon in 1980.
He went on to work in senior executive roles such as vice president and general manager at 20th Century Fox, Canada, and senior vice president, film at Cineplex Odeon, among others, before becoming senior vice president and general manager at Alliance Releasing from 1992-97.
In this role he championed Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting and many others,...
- 7/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Disney Branded Television has begun production on The Slumber Party, a Disney Original Movie based on Jen Malone’s popular teen novel The Sleepover, from Imagine Kids+Family, a division of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. Production got underway today in Atlanta.
Darby Camp (Big Little Lies), Emmy Liu-Wang (Raven’s Home), Valentina Herrera (Black Widow), Dallas Liu (Pen15) and newcomers Alex Cooper Cohen and Ramon Rodriguez star in the coming-of-age comedy, directed by Veronica Rodriguez (Let’s Get Married), and written by Eydie Faye (Fuller House).
The Slumber Party depicts the hilarious aftermath of a sleepover birthday party hypnotism gone wrong as best friends Megan (Camp) and Paige (Liu-Wang), along with soon-to-be step-sister Veronica (Cooper Cohen), wake up with absolutely no memory of the night before. Now they must retrace their steps to find missing birthday girl Anna Maria (Herrera) … and explain why there’s a flock...
Darby Camp (Big Little Lies), Emmy Liu-Wang (Raven’s Home), Valentina Herrera (Black Widow), Dallas Liu (Pen15) and newcomers Alex Cooper Cohen and Ramon Rodriguez star in the coming-of-age comedy, directed by Veronica Rodriguez (Let’s Get Married), and written by Eydie Faye (Fuller House).
The Slumber Party depicts the hilarious aftermath of a sleepover birthday party hypnotism gone wrong as best friends Megan (Camp) and Paige (Liu-Wang), along with soon-to-be step-sister Veronica (Cooper Cohen), wake up with absolutely no memory of the night before. Now they must retrace their steps to find missing birthday girl Anna Maria (Herrera) … and explain why there’s a flock...
- 9/27/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The neuroses of helicopter parents are played for laughs in a Chicago-based web series. Anna Maria Hozian and Brad Riddell, who are both screenwriting professors, are the creators behind Other People's Children, a series that mines comedy from parent-teacher conferences.
Each episode of Other People's Children details a conversation between Margot (Atra Asdou) and one or two parents of children in her second-grade class. The adults in the room are an eclectic bunch; some are overcritical, while others are wildly profane. No matter their quirks, Margot must do her best to convince them that she is giving their kids a strong education.
Other People's Children has a sharpness to it that Hozian and Riddell drew from their own experiences with ridiculous parents. Both of the show's creators live in the suburbs and have school-age children, which means they interact with plenty of overbearing characters. As screenwriters, they are sharing their...
Each episode of Other People's Children details a conversation between Margot (Atra Asdou) and one or two parents of children in her second-grade class. The adults in the room are an eclectic bunch; some are overcritical, while others are wildly profane. No matter their quirks, Margot must do her best to convince them that she is giving their kids a strong education.
Other People's Children has a sharpness to it that Hozian and Riddell drew from their own experiences with ridiculous parents. Both of the show's creators live in the suburbs and have school-age children, which means they interact with plenty of overbearing characters. As screenwriters, they are sharing their...
- 12/9/2017
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Chicago – The education system of America has been ripe over the years for comedic skewering… and with today’s overindulgent parenting style, it’s never been a better time for those knowing laughs. The focus on parent teacher/conferences is the subject of the latest comedy web series, shot in Chicago, called “Other People’s Children.” (Opc).
Opc centers on Margot Antler (Astra Asdou), who dreams of becoming a renowned novelist, but in reality she’s a rookie second grade teacher who is about to experience the insanity of parent/teacher conferences for the first time. The series develops as a series of vignettes, as Margot finds herself at conferences where the adults behave worst than their children. In those encounters, it’s not so much the second graders who have problems, but rather their post millennial parents.
Astra Asdou in ‘Other People’s Children,’ Co-Created by Brad Riddell & Anna Maria Hozian
Photo credit: OPCTheSeries.
Opc centers on Margot Antler (Astra Asdou), who dreams of becoming a renowned novelist, but in reality she’s a rookie second grade teacher who is about to experience the insanity of parent/teacher conferences for the first time. The series develops as a series of vignettes, as Margot finds herself at conferences where the adults behave worst than their children. In those encounters, it’s not so much the second graders who have problems, but rather their post millennial parents.
Astra Asdou in ‘Other People’s Children,’ Co-Created by Brad Riddell & Anna Maria Hozian
Photo credit: OPCTheSeries.
- 12/2/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A Georgia woman said she is still recovering from a double amputation after she was attacked in 2015 by a donkey she was feeding.
Anna Maria Giacomi recently settled a lawsuit against an unnamed Georgia commercial farm where she had been feeding the donkey, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports.
Speaking to Channel 2 Action News, Giacomi said the donkey “grabbed my wrist and started biting, chewing and crunching going up my arm.”
She was taken to the hospital where she developed flesh-eating bacteria and had 11 surgeries in two months. Doctors amputated her leg and arm.
“I woke up with no arm and no leg,...
Anna Maria Giacomi recently settled a lawsuit against an unnamed Georgia commercial farm where she had been feeding the donkey, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports.
Speaking to Channel 2 Action News, Giacomi said the donkey “grabbed my wrist and started biting, chewing and crunching going up my arm.”
She was taken to the hospital where she developed flesh-eating bacteria and had 11 surgeries in two months. Doctors amputated her leg and arm.
“I woke up with no arm and no leg,...
- 5/13/2017
- by Alexia Fernandez
- PEOPLE.com
StudioCanal has a sales hit on its hands with German romantic comedy My Blind Date With Life.
The feature, from Sophie Scholl director Marc Rothemund, has sold to some 37 territories, including to Kino Films for Japan, Alpha Filmes for Latin America and Flins & Pinicula for Spain.
Based on a true story, Blind Date stars Kostja Ullmann as a severally visually impaired man who, with the help of his friends, manages to bluff his way into a career at one of Munich's finest luxury hotels. Anna Maria Muhe (Love in Thoughts) co-stars.
"The fact that it is...
The feature, from Sophie Scholl director Marc Rothemund, has sold to some 37 territories, including to Kino Films for Japan, Alpha Filmes for Latin America and Flins & Pinicula for Spain.
Based on a true story, Blind Date stars Kostja Ullmann as a severally visually impaired man who, with the help of his friends, manages to bluff his way into a career at one of Munich's finest luxury hotels. Anna Maria Muhe (Love in Thoughts) co-stars.
"The fact that it is...
- 2/9/2017
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nine projects unveiled on top of six previously announced projects.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s co-production market CineLink, which will run Aug 18-20, has unveiled its selection.
Nine projects have been added to the previously announced six, with additional guest projects to be announced in coming weeks.
The selection targets projects from established regional names, which are in advanced stage of development and financing.
CineLink offers awards funds totalling more than $180,000 (€160,000) in cash and services and boosts a impressive track record with previous projects going on to major international recognition such as Oscar and Cannes winner Son Of Saul (2015), Berlinale winner Harmony Lessons (2013) and Venice winner White Shadow (2013).
Cinelink Co-Production Market 2016
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija (Macedonia)
Director: Teona S MitevskaScriptwriters: Elma Tataragić, Teona S MitevskaProducer: Labina MitevskaProduction Company: Sisters And Brother Mitevski
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija is the fourth feature by Macedonian director Teona S. Mitevska. Her previous film The Woman Who Brushed Off Her...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s co-production market CineLink, which will run Aug 18-20, has unveiled its selection.
Nine projects have been added to the previously announced six, with additional guest projects to be announced in coming weeks.
The selection targets projects from established regional names, which are in advanced stage of development and financing.
CineLink offers awards funds totalling more than $180,000 (€160,000) in cash and services and boosts a impressive track record with previous projects going on to major international recognition such as Oscar and Cannes winner Son Of Saul (2015), Berlinale winner Harmony Lessons (2013) and Venice winner White Shadow (2013).
Cinelink Co-Production Market 2016
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija (Macedonia)
Director: Teona S MitevskaScriptwriters: Elma Tataragić, Teona S MitevskaProducer: Labina MitevskaProduction Company: Sisters And Brother Mitevski
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija is the fourth feature by Macedonian director Teona S. Mitevska. Her previous film The Woman Who Brushed Off Her...
- 6/20/2016
- by vladan.petkovic@gmail.com (Vladan Petkovic) michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Nordic Film Market includes debut films by Force Majeure actress, the screenwriter of A Royal Affair and director of viral hit Las Palmas; CAA, UTA and ICM agents among attending industry.Scroll down for full list
More than 40 Nordic films and works in progress will be presented at the fruitful Nordic Film Market in Goteborg, which runs Feb 4-7 during to the Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 29 - Feb 8).
Often a productive staging post for impressive upcoming regional features and emerging talent, the 2016 lineup includes 17 finished features and 20 works in progress, plus eight titles presented as part of the Nordic Film Lab Discovery programme.
The works-in-progress presentations (see full list below) include ten debut films from the likes of A Royal Affair screenwriter Rasmus Heisterberg, viral hit Las Palmas director Johannes Nyholm, Force Majeure actress Fanni Metelius and Cannes Cinefondation alumni Juho Kuosmanen and Shahrbanoo Sadat.
Other works in progress will be presented from directors Mads Brugger ([link...
More than 40 Nordic films and works in progress will be presented at the fruitful Nordic Film Market in Goteborg, which runs Feb 4-7 during to the Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 29 - Feb 8).
Often a productive staging post for impressive upcoming regional features and emerging talent, the 2016 lineup includes 17 finished features and 20 works in progress, plus eight titles presented as part of the Nordic Film Lab Discovery programme.
The works-in-progress presentations (see full list below) include ten debut films from the likes of A Royal Affair screenwriter Rasmus Heisterberg, viral hit Las Palmas director Johannes Nyholm, Force Majeure actress Fanni Metelius and Cannes Cinefondation alumni Juho Kuosmanen and Shahrbanoo Sadat.
Other works in progress will be presented from directors Mads Brugger ([link...
- 1/27/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Amazing Spider-Man #16
Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Pencils by Humberto Ramos
Colors by Edgar Delgado
Published by Marvel Comics
With Spider-Verse finally over, Peter Parker finally gets to return to the streets of New York for a smaller, more grounded adventure. But after being gone for so long, can Peter repair the damage that’s been done in his absence?
The latest issue opens with Spider-Man battling the Iguana, a bargain-bin version of the Lizard that hasn’t been seen since the 70’s. Using a C-list villain such as the Iguana right after fighting a seemingly invincible and ancient threat like the Inheritors is a humorous juxtaposition, which writer Dan Slott fully utilizes. Here, Peter battles the scaly villain while having a conversation over the phone with Anna Maria, trying once again to buy time for Peter to get to an important meeting with a prospective client interested in hiring Parker Industries.
Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Pencils by Humberto Ramos
Colors by Edgar Delgado
Published by Marvel Comics
With Spider-Verse finally over, Peter Parker finally gets to return to the streets of New York for a smaller, more grounded adventure. But after being gone for so long, can Peter repair the damage that’s been done in his absence?
The latest issue opens with Spider-Man battling the Iguana, a bargain-bin version of the Lizard that hasn’t been seen since the 70’s. Using a C-list villain such as the Iguana right after fighting a seemingly invincible and ancient threat like the Inheritors is a humorous juxtaposition, which writer Dan Slott fully utilizes. Here, Peter battles the scaly villain while having a conversation over the phone with Anna Maria, trying once again to buy time for Peter to get to an important meeting with a prospective client interested in hiring Parker Industries.
- 3/13/2015
- by Halden Fraley
- SoundOnSight
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. It was a dark and stormy night. Five travelers on a remote mountain road get caught in a flash flood and their car runs off the road. Even though they were warned not to take the road they are on by local law enforcement. Some are slightly injured; the only building for miles around is a strangely isolated, forebodingly huge house high on a hill.
Wait, it gets better. The old man who appears to be the only inhabitant does not want them to come in the house; they beg and plead since some in their group are injured. The bearded old man reluctantly lets them in to give them shelter, but orders them not to go anywhere in the building but the lobby. The building is an inn but nobody has signed the register since 1978 you see.
Naturally the American (Peter Facinelli,...
Wait, it gets better. The old man who appears to be the only inhabitant does not want them to come in the house; they beg and plead since some in their group are injured. The bearded old man reluctantly lets them in to give them shelter, but orders them not to go anywhere in the building but the lobby. The building is an inn but nobody has signed the register since 1978 you see.
Naturally the American (Peter Facinelli,...
- 8/28/2014
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
A night out with pals never goes without a little relationship talk. Cameron Diaz was spotted dining in Miami at the new South Beach restaurant Porfirio's Monday night with four pals, enjoying spicy Mexican fare and sipping on Mezcal drinks, a source tells People. The Sex Tape star, 41, was in good spirits, gushing about her new relationship with rocker boyfriend Benji Madden, 35, who was not with the group. This outing follows an Independence Day trip to Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, Florida, where Diaz's family has a home. Madden and Diaz were seen running in and out of the water,...
- 7/9/2014
- by Jessica Fecteau
- PEOPLE.com
A night out with pals never goes without a little relationship talk. Cameron Diaz was spotted dining in Miami at the new South Beach restaurant Porfirio's Monday night with four pals, enjoying spicy Mexican fare and sipping on Mezcal drinks, a source tells People. The Sex Tape star, 41, was in good spirits, gushing about her new relationship with rocker boyfriend Benji Madden, 35, who was not with the group. This outing follows an Independence Day trip to Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, Florida, where Diaz's family has a home. Madden and Diaz were seen running in and out of the water,...
- 7/9/2014
- by Jessica Fecteau
- PEOPLE.com
Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden's summer romance is heating up! The Sex Tape star, 41, and the Good Charlotte rocker, 35, visited Diaz's family over Independence Day. "They flew into Orlando and then drove to Tampa where they met up for a reunion," a source tells E! News. "They also spent a few days at the beach on Anna Maria Island, where Cameron's family has a house. It was a great vacation and they had a blast spending time with Cameron's nieces and nephews." The couple's five-day trip marks the first known time that Diaz has introduced her boyfriend to her family. "Cameron and Benji are like big kids themselves. They were having a great time jumping over waves and splashing...
- 7/7/2014
- E! Online
Welcome to the first in a new feature here on Nerdly where we take a look at some of the weeks new releases in smaller, more succinct capsule reviews with a rating to let you know whether to Rent, Buy, or wait for Netflix and/or other streaming services…
Demon Legacy
Stars: Anna Maria Demara, Kati Sharp, Grant Alan, Nancy McCrumb, Cortney Palm | Written by Tracy Morse | Directed by Rand Vossler
In a remote mountain lodge, five college friends are spending time together to help one of them get over a break up. After a late night drunken party the friends decide to play with a Ouija board, with terrible consequences. An unholy evil is unleashed and the friends must battle evil and each other, as the lines between reality and imagination blur the struggle to save them begins.
Demon Legacy has one hell of a pedigree: a first-time feature from director Rand Vossler who,...
Demon Legacy
Stars: Anna Maria Demara, Kati Sharp, Grant Alan, Nancy McCrumb, Cortney Palm | Written by Tracy Morse | Directed by Rand Vossler
In a remote mountain lodge, five college friends are spending time together to help one of them get over a break up. After a late night drunken party the friends decide to play with a Ouija board, with terrible consequences. An unholy evil is unleashed and the friends must battle evil and each other, as the lines between reality and imagination blur the struggle to save them begins.
Demon Legacy has one hell of a pedigree: a first-time feature from director Rand Vossler who,...
- 5/25/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Hatari!
Written by Leigh Brackett
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1962
Hatari! is essentially about a group of men with a job to do, which makes it a perfect vehicle for John Wayne and Howard Hawks. Hawks reveled in stories about professional people who take their job seriously, and more often than not, Wayne played a character who was the best man for the job. As in their other collaborations — two Westerns before and two after — this film highlights what these two can best bring to the cinematic table. While Hatari! mostly falls into the action/adventure category (though throughout its 157-minute runtime, relatively little is concentrated on extensive action), it ends up being an entertaining and amusing character study, something perhaps more in line with Hawks than Wayne.
This was Leigh Brackett’s third screenplay for Hawks (with two more to follow) and as usual, she expertly captures the banter...
Written by Leigh Brackett
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1962
Hatari! is essentially about a group of men with a job to do, which makes it a perfect vehicle for John Wayne and Howard Hawks. Hawks reveled in stories about professional people who take their job seriously, and more often than not, Wayne played a character who was the best man for the job. As in their other collaborations — two Westerns before and two after — this film highlights what these two can best bring to the cinematic table. While Hatari! mostly falls into the action/adventure category (though throughout its 157-minute runtime, relatively little is concentrated on extensive action), it ends up being an entertaining and amusing character study, something perhaps more in line with Hawks than Wayne.
This was Leigh Brackett’s third screenplay for Hawks (with two more to follow) and as usual, she expertly captures the banter...
- 3/21/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Spider-Man and the Green Goblin have been inextricably linked since the green and purple-clad villain first appeared in 1964’s Amazing Spider-Man #14. While a case could be made (especially by current readers of the Superior Spider-Man series) that Doctor Octopus is Spider-Man’s arch nemesis, no other villain has caused Spidey more pain and suffering than the Green Goblin. The Goblin, whether it be the original incarnation of the character, Norman Osborn, his son Harry, or whoever is currently under the mask in the pages of Superior (remember, we still haven’t seen his face) has always found a way to strike at Spider-Man in gut-wrenchingly personal fashion.
Even now, after Otto Octavius swapped brains and bodies with Peter Parker, creating the “Superior” Spider-Man, the watershed moment for the character is expected to be his inevitable confrontation with the Green Goblin. The Goblin Nation storyline marks the end of the Superior-era at Marvel,...
Even now, after Otto Octavius swapped brains and bodies with Peter Parker, creating the “Superior” Spider-Man, the watershed moment for the character is expected to be his inevitable confrontation with the Green Goblin. The Goblin Nation storyline marks the end of the Superior-era at Marvel,...
- 2/27/2014
- by Mark Ginocchio
- Obsessed with Film
Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Love is playing through January 26 and Paradise: Faith is playing through February 10 on Mubi in the U.S..
***
Above: Maria (Maria Hofstätter) in Paradise: Faith.
Think of the silent film star Pearl White, decamped and tuned up in a boxy frame lit through the middle, giggling or screaming or whispering her perils against a few dozen uncomprehending faces. Split into three, she becomes, in Ulrich Seidl’s vision of her, a botched vigilante of her own wayward desires, long unregulated and frayed, whether by age (Teresa, the giggler on holiday in Paradise: Love), chastity (Anna Maria, the gnarled scream of Paradise: Faith), or by size (the impressionable and adolescent Melanie, the whisperer of Paradise: Hope). Seidl’s three films are really one continuous achievement in the art of corporeal crisis management; taken together, they make a fleshy, nested triumvirate with impeccable feline intuition.
The middle-aged Teresa...
***
Above: Maria (Maria Hofstätter) in Paradise: Faith.
Think of the silent film star Pearl White, decamped and tuned up in a boxy frame lit through the middle, giggling or screaming or whispering her perils against a few dozen uncomprehending faces. Split into three, she becomes, in Ulrich Seidl’s vision of her, a botched vigilante of her own wayward desires, long unregulated and frayed, whether by age (Teresa, the giggler on holiday in Paradise: Love), chastity (Anna Maria, the gnarled scream of Paradise: Faith), or by size (the impressionable and adolescent Melanie, the whisperer of Paradise: Hope). Seidl’s three films are really one continuous achievement in the art of corporeal crisis management; taken together, they make a fleshy, nested triumvirate with impeccable feline intuition.
The middle-aged Teresa...
- 1/20/2014
- by Ricky D'Ambrose
- MUBI
Fox International Productions Germany is doubling down on local-language production with a pair of new executive hires aimed at strengthening the development and production of German features at the Berlin-based studio outlet. Magdalena Prosteder and Anna Maria Zundel have joined Fip Germany as production executives tasked with the acquisition and development of German feature films. They will report to Vincent de la Tour, managing director of Fox's German operations, and to Germar Tetzlaff, who runs marketing as well as local productions and acquisitions. "Local productions are of course a major component [of our business],” said de la
read more...
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- 1/7/2014
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Superior Spider-Man #24
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Long time Marvel readers may have been tempted to roll their eyes at the sight of the Venom symbiote bonding with Spider-Man in issue #23. After reading the original story, various retellings, cartoon, and movie adaptations, it’s easy to give the idea a “been there, done that” dismissal. Especially any readers who may have been enjoying Venom’s recently canceled series featuring Flash Thompson. But what we get here in Superior Spider-Man #24 isn’t your average Venom. It’s the Superior Venom. Otto Octavius has bonded with the symbiote, and unless one has played the old Spider-Man game on the original PlayStation, that’s something they haven’t seen before.
Where the previous issue crammed a lot into one book, Superior Spider-Man #24 picks up the pace and streamlines the action for a more enjoyable read.
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Long time Marvel readers may have been tempted to roll their eyes at the sight of the Venom symbiote bonding with Spider-Man in issue #23. After reading the original story, various retellings, cartoon, and movie adaptations, it’s easy to give the idea a “been there, done that” dismissal. Especially any readers who may have been enjoying Venom’s recently canceled series featuring Flash Thompson. But what we get here in Superior Spider-Man #24 isn’t your average Venom. It’s the Superior Venom. Otto Octavius has bonded with the symbiote, and unless one has played the old Spider-Man game on the original PlayStation, that’s something they haven’t seen before.
Where the previous issue crammed a lot into one book, Superior Spider-Man #24 picks up the pace and streamlines the action for a more enjoyable read.
- 12/19/2013
- by Riley Biehl
- SoundOnSight
Grand Finale: Seidl’s Final Chapter Strikes Surprisingly Tender Notes
With Paradise: Hope, the crowning chapter of Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise Trilogy, the provocateur surprises us with perhaps the only way he possibly could after two emotionally grueling chapters—a stroke of tenderness. That’s not to say that Hope is less uncomfortable or bleak as Love and Faith, but for once his addendum seems less harshly skewed, even if our lead character’s illusion of hope is just as cursory. A thrillingly good equal to its sister films, Seidl tantalizes here by subverting our expectations based on his previous work, giving us a modestly sweet afterglow after we’ve gnawed our way through the sour and sublime.
While her mom is off in Kenya exploring sex tourism and her aunt Anna Maria suffers through a summer rendezvous with religion, thirteen year old Melanie (Melanie Lenz), known as Millie to her friends,...
With Paradise: Hope, the crowning chapter of Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise Trilogy, the provocateur surprises us with perhaps the only way he possibly could after two emotionally grueling chapters—a stroke of tenderness. That’s not to say that Hope is less uncomfortable or bleak as Love and Faith, but for once his addendum seems less harshly skewed, even if our lead character’s illusion of hope is just as cursory. A thrillingly good equal to its sister films, Seidl tantalizes here by subverting our expectations based on his previous work, giving us a modestly sweet afterglow after we’ve gnawed our way through the sour and sublime.
While her mom is off in Kenya exploring sex tourism and her aunt Anna Maria suffers through a summer rendezvous with religion, thirteen year old Melanie (Melanie Lenz), known as Millie to her friends,...
- 12/18/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Superior Spider-Man #23
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Lots of ongoing comics today can feature long and sometimes year-spanning story arcs that last up to eleven issues or longer (we’re looking at you, Scott Snyder!). This can make for some truly epic and serious story-telling, but sometimes you just get bored reading one story over an entire year. Which is one reason why The Superior Spider-Man has been so enjoyable. Most issues contain a one-shot story with other arcs going no longer than three issues. With “Darkest Hours” set to span four issues, co-writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage should have had plenty of time to spread the events of this story a bit more evenly. But unfortunately, Superior Spider-Man #23 packs just a little too much plot into too few pages.
The issue begins with a fight between Venom and Spider-Man,...
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Lots of ongoing comics today can feature long and sometimes year-spanning story arcs that last up to eleven issues or longer (we’re looking at you, Scott Snyder!). This can make for some truly epic and serious story-telling, but sometimes you just get bored reading one story over an entire year. Which is one reason why The Superior Spider-Man has been so enjoyable. Most issues contain a one-shot story with other arcs going no longer than three issues. With “Darkest Hours” set to span four issues, co-writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage should have had plenty of time to spread the events of this story a bit more evenly. But unfortunately, Superior Spider-Man #23 packs just a little too much plot into too few pages.
The issue begins with a fight between Venom and Spider-Man,...
- 12/9/2013
- by Riley Biehl
- SoundOnSight
Superior Spider-Man #22
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
One of the more intriguing and entertaining aspects of The Superior Spider-Man so far has been watching Otto’s interactions with the rest of the Marvel universe based on memories from Peter Parker and his own experiences as Doctor Octopus. So naturally, the idea of Octavius taking on Venom, one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes, would seem like a great opportunity to see just how different the two Spider-Men are. However, it’s worth noting that Agent Venom and Spider-Man haven’t really encountered each other since Flash Thompson bonded with the symbiote. So Peter Parker never knew about Flash as Venom, and it still remains to be seen if Otto ever checked out any memories on Eugene. So what happens when this Spider-Man and this Venom take each other on for the first time?...
Writers: Dan Slott and Christos Gage
Art: Humberto Ramos
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Publisher: Marvel Comics
One of the more intriguing and entertaining aspects of The Superior Spider-Man so far has been watching Otto’s interactions with the rest of the Marvel universe based on memories from Peter Parker and his own experiences as Doctor Octopus. So naturally, the idea of Octavius taking on Venom, one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes, would seem like a great opportunity to see just how different the two Spider-Men are. However, it’s worth noting that Agent Venom and Spider-Man haven’t really encountered each other since Flash Thompson bonded with the symbiote. So Peter Parker never knew about Flash as Venom, and it still remains to be seen if Otto ever checked out any memories on Eugene. So what happens when this Spider-Man and this Venom take each other on for the first time?...
- 12/4/2013
- by Riley Biehl
- SoundOnSight
Just when you thought it was going to be a Madea-free year... not-so fast my friends! Tyler Perry is good for at least 2 movies a year. His Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor did decent box office (relative to budget) over the course of its theatrical run that started in March. And he'll be taking us out of 2013 with a second movie set for release just in time for the Christmas holiday (December 13) - this one titled Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas, which Perry is of course writing, directing and starring in, along with Tika Sumpter, Chad Michael Murray, Larry the Cable Guy, Kathy Najimy, Eric Lively and Anna Maria...
- 10/30/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Wild Child’s sophomore release, ‘Runaround’, is indicative of a band ready to command the attention of the mainstream. The group made a tentative entrance into commercial consciousness earlier this year with stop-go single ‘All The Years’ soundtracking the Purina cat food 50th anniversary advertisement, and their latest release comprises many singles befitting of potential future commercials. The unforgettable whistled hook in ‘Crazy Bird’, for example, would slot rather neatly into an advert for an Apple iPod. It is yet to be seen if this style will bolster their critical roster following accolades for ‘Best Indie Act’ and ‘Best Folk Act’ at this year’s Austin Music Awards, but it is sure to enhance their accessibility.
Regrettably, the more marketable direction the band have edged toward in ‘Runaround’ has resulted in a dilution of the quirky, innovative sound that made debut album ‘Pillow Talk’ so exciting.
Wild Child’s sophomore release, ‘Runaround’, is indicative of a band ready to command the attention of the mainstream. The group made a tentative entrance into commercial consciousness earlier this year with stop-go single ‘All The Years’ soundtracking the Purina cat food 50th anniversary advertisement, and their latest release comprises many singles befitting of potential future commercials. The unforgettable whistled hook in ‘Crazy Bird’, for example, would slot rather neatly into an advert for an Apple iPod. It is yet to be seen if this style will bolster their critical roster following accolades for ‘Best Indie Act’ and ‘Best Folk Act’ at this year’s Austin Music Awards, but it is sure to enhance their accessibility.
Regrettably, the more marketable direction the band have edged toward in ‘Runaround’ has resulted in a dilution of the quirky, innovative sound that made debut album ‘Pillow Talk’ so exciting.
- 10/18/2013
- by Lewis Macleod
- Obsessed with Film
Just when you thought it was going to be a Madea-free year... not-so fast my friends! Tyler Perry is good for at least 2 movies a year. His Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor did decent box office (relative to budget) over the course of its theatrical run that started in March. And he'll be taking us out of 2013 with a second movie set for release just in time for the Christmas holiday (December 13) - this one titled Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas, which Perry is of course writing, directing and starring in, along with Tika Sumpter, Chad Michael Murray, Larry the Cable Guy, Kathy Najimy, Eric Lively and Anna Maria...
- 10/11/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Three features about three women from one family make up the remarkable Paradise Trilogy, a triptych of award-winning European arthouse dramas from the celebrated (if controversial) Austrian director Ulrich Seidl (Import/Export). To celebrate the DVD release of this critically acclaimed series, we have Three copies of Seidl's beautifully packaged Paradise Trilogy box set to give away to a our world cinema-loving army of readers, courtesy of our friends at esteemed independent UK distributor Soda Pictures. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
The first in the trio, Paradise: Love centres on a middle-aged woman, Teresa (Margarete Tiesel), who travels to Kenya on a sex-tourism journey. Her trip has one goal: carnal satisfaction. Paradise: Faith follows devout Catholic Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) and her draconian spiritual journey,...
The first in the trio, Paradise: Love centres on a middle-aged woman, Teresa (Margarete Tiesel), who travels to Kenya on a sex-tourism journey. Her trip has one goal: carnal satisfaction. Paradise: Faith follows devout Catholic Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) and her draconian spiritual journey,...
- 10/4/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Paradise: Hope
Written by Ulrich Seidl and Veronika Franz
Directed by Ulrich Seidl
Austria/France/Germany, 2013
Until Paradise: Love premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Austrian director Ulrich Seidl was a relatively unknown figure in the film world. Since then, he has released two more Paradise films to make up a trilogy with Love: Faith and this year’s Hope. With the release of the three films, Seidl has quickly propelled himself into art cinema stardom, earning comparisons to venerable filmmakers like his fellow Austrian Michael Haneke.
The films tell the story of three individual women from the same family. In Love, 50-year old Teresa travels to Kenya as a sex tourist. In Faith, Anna Maria’s Catholic faith and steadfastness is tested by various people around her. Finally, in Hope, we follow Anna Maria’s daughter Melanie (Melanie Lenz) as she goes to spend her summer at a diet camp.
Written by Ulrich Seidl and Veronika Franz
Directed by Ulrich Seidl
Austria/France/Germany, 2013
Until Paradise: Love premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Austrian director Ulrich Seidl was a relatively unknown figure in the film world. Since then, he has released two more Paradise films to make up a trilogy with Love: Faith and this year’s Hope. With the release of the three films, Seidl has quickly propelled himself into art cinema stardom, earning comparisons to venerable filmmakers like his fellow Austrian Michael Haneke.
The films tell the story of three individual women from the same family. In Love, 50-year old Teresa travels to Kenya as a sex tourist. In Faith, Anna Maria’s Catholic faith and steadfastness is tested by various people around her. Finally, in Hope, we follow Anna Maria’s daughter Melanie (Melanie Lenz) as she goes to spend her summer at a diet camp.
- 9/20/2013
- by Laura Holtebrinck
- SoundOnSight
‘Paradise: Faith’ screenings in Los Angeles and New York draw Catholic protests (photo: Maria Hofstätter in ‘Paradise: Faith’) "Oh boy. People are picketing our box office in protest of Paradise Faith." That’s a tweet by Cinefamily, referring to the Wednesday, August 28, 2013, screening of Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Faith at the Silent Movie Theater in West Hollywood. Part two of Seidl’s "Paradise" trilogy — which began with the Cannes Film Festival entry Paradise: Love and ends with Paradise: Hope — Paradise: Faith was co-written by Seidl and Veronika Franz. The stark drama revolves around a Viennese woman (Maria Hofstätter) who happens to be both the wife of a paraplegic Muslim man (Nabil Saleh) and an ardent Catholic, along the lines of the religiously demented Hazel Motes from Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood. Ulrich Seidl: More merciless than Michael Haneke "Mr. Seidl’s eye is even more merciless — some would...
- 9/2/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Between Love and Hope: Seidl’s Second Film of Paradise Trilogy a Harrowing Hilarity
In what has to be the most significant auteur helmed cinematic motif project since Kieslowski’s Three Colors, Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy blazes on with the second installment, Paradise: Faith, which follows Love. Those familiar with the Austrian director’s previous work, such as a 2004 documentary, Jesus, You Know, should hardly be surprised by the droll, black comic sensibility of his latest effort, which, by the end of its course, will have given us three interrelated stories about women that are difficult to like or empathize with. Many will be turned off at how Seidl often times uses his protagonists for ridicule, but one could argue that this may really just be our own discomfort with the consumption of materials not glossed over with euphemism. His work, often compared to fellow Austrian Michael Haneke for its austerity and flirtatious misanthropy,...
In what has to be the most significant auteur helmed cinematic motif project since Kieslowski’s Three Colors, Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy blazes on with the second installment, Paradise: Faith, which follows Love. Those familiar with the Austrian director’s previous work, such as a 2004 documentary, Jesus, You Know, should hardly be surprised by the droll, black comic sensibility of his latest effort, which, by the end of its course, will have given us three interrelated stories about women that are difficult to like or empathize with. Many will be turned off at how Seidl often times uses his protagonists for ridicule, but one could argue that this may really just be our own discomfort with the consumption of materials not glossed over with euphemism. His work, often compared to fellow Austrian Michael Haneke for its austerity and flirtatious misanthropy,...
- 8/21/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Coming at us in sections like baby-boomer stations of the cross, Ulrich Seidl's Dantean triptych Paradise is inarguably one of the year's big moviehouse shitstorms, and appropriately this second panel, coming after Love's bruising tropical-tourism anti-daydream, doesn't spare the rod. As you'd expect, Faith takes the Divine Comedy fixtures head-on—the first thing we see is a plump middle-aged hausfrau kneel before a crucifix in a closed room, beseech Christ for forgiveness, strip to the waist, and then furiously flog herself with a metal-tipped cat-o'-nine-tails.
This is Anna Maria (veteran character actress Maria Hofstätter), a mammography technician by day and the fussy neighbor we saw cat-sitting for the vacationing protagonist of <i...
This is Anna Maria (veteran character actress Maria Hofstätter), a mammography technician by day and the fussy neighbor we saw cat-sitting for the vacationing protagonist of <i...
- 8/21/2013
- Village Voice
The Austrian film-maker Ulrich Seidl is best known in this country for his 2007 film Import/Export, an impressive, depressing account of parallel lives in Austria and the Ukraine. Olga, a Ukrainian nurse, leaves her little daughter to find a better life in Vienna, but ends up as a cleaner in a run-down geriatric hospital. Meanwhile Paul, a working-class Austrian, loses his job with a security firm and leaves with his alcoholic father to sell secondhand fruit machines in the Ukraine.
Seidl has followed this diptych about social and spiritual poverty, disappointment and self-deception with a trilogy on the same themes, ironically called Paradise. In the first film, Love, the overweight, middle-aged Viennese divorcee, Teresa, leaves her teenage daughter with her sister to spend the summer as a sex tourist in Kenya. She experiences brief sexual satisfaction with young male prostitutes she meets on the beach before becoming disgusted with these...
Seidl has followed this diptych about social and spiritual poverty, disappointment and self-deception with a trilogy on the same themes, ironically called Paradise. In the first film, Love, the overweight, middle-aged Viennese divorcee, Teresa, leaves her teenage daughter with her sister to spend the summer as a sex tourist in Kenya. She experiences brief sexual satisfaction with young male prostitutes she meets on the beach before becoming disgusted with these...
- 8/3/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
TItle: Paradise: Faith (Paradies: Glaube) Magnolia Pictures Director: Ulrich Seidl Screenwriter: Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz Cast: Maria Hofstätter, Nabil Saleh, Natalya Baranova, Rene Rupnik Screened at: Critics’ Vimeo 7/9/13 Opens on DVD October 18, 2013 There is this expression “the world would be a better place if people would learn to just sit quietly in a room.” As Ulrich Seidl’s movie “Paradise: Faith,” the second in the director’s trilogy, begins, we think that the principal character, Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter), is such an ideal person. After all, when she leaves her job as a lab technician, she tells her co-worker that she is going on vacation, and that she is [ Read More ]
The post Paradise: Faith Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Paradise: Faith Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/9/2013
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Reading this on mobile? Click here to watch video
Just as those who've enjoyed Richard Linklater's Before Midnight are now revisiting the first two films in his lost-love trilogy, so those who've thrilled to Paradise: Hope, the final instalment of Ulrich Seidl's triptych about women seeking self-fulfilment on holiday, will be eager to catch up with the middle section.
Faith is perhaps the purest expression of the caustic Austrian's key concern: the friction between sexual fetish and religious fundamentalism. This he explores without flinching, or mercy for his lead, devoutly kinky Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter), though not without grim humour. For believers, it'll be an essential tract. Such is its commitment even the sceptical can't help but be impressed through the retching.
DramaRomanceWorld cinemaCatherine Shoard
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our...
Just as those who've enjoyed Richard Linklater's Before Midnight are now revisiting the first two films in his lost-love trilogy, so those who've thrilled to Paradise: Hope, the final instalment of Ulrich Seidl's triptych about women seeking self-fulfilment on holiday, will be eager to catch up with the middle section.
Faith is perhaps the purest expression of the caustic Austrian's key concern: the friction between sexual fetish and religious fundamentalism. This he explores without flinching, or mercy for his lead, devoutly kinky Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter), though not without grim humour. For believers, it'll be an essential tract. Such is its commitment even the sceptical can't help but be impressed through the retching.
DramaRomanceWorld cinemaCatherine Shoard
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our...
- 7/6/2013
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Ulrich Seidl is still ladling on the sexual humiliation – but there are hints of ordinary human heartbreak in a trilogy growing in power
The first film in Ulrich Seidl's "Paradise" trilogy, Paradise: Love, was very much about sexual humiliation. The second film, Paradise: Faith, turns out to be ... well, very largely about sexual humiliation as well. There are plenty of Seidl's signature grotesques, extended uncomfortable scenes and hardcore imagery owing something to Lucian Freud and Diane Arbus. But perhaps for the first time there is also a hint of ordinary human heartbreak, someone whose fears and motivations might exist in the real world, or at any rate some world other than the director's usual nightmarish theatre of cruelty. Maria Hofstätter plays Anna Maria (the sister of the female sex tourist from the first movie), a pious Christian who who lives on her own and likes to go door-to-door with...
The first film in Ulrich Seidl's "Paradise" trilogy, Paradise: Love, was very much about sexual humiliation. The second film, Paradise: Faith, turns out to be ... well, very largely about sexual humiliation as well. There are plenty of Seidl's signature grotesques, extended uncomfortable scenes and hardcore imagery owing something to Lucian Freud and Diane Arbus. But perhaps for the first time there is also a hint of ordinary human heartbreak, someone whose fears and motivations might exist in the real world, or at any rate some world other than the director's usual nightmarish theatre of cruelty. Maria Hofstätter plays Anna Maria (the sister of the female sex tourist from the first movie), a pious Christian who who lives on her own and likes to go door-to-door with...
- 7/4/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Paradise: Faith is the second instalment in Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy, sandwiched in between Love and Hope. However much like its predecessor, the term ‘faith’ is ironically implemented, as a loose and somewhat sardonic use of the word, as we explore the trials and tribulations of a woman battling against her loyalty to the Catholic church.
Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) is a lonely middle aged Austrian woman, who has devoted her life to Jesus Christ, intensely and passionately abiding by the teachings of the Bible, methodically self-punishing herself to prove her dedication and commitment to her religion. Though working as a nurse, in her spare time she goes door to door to preach the Catholic religion to her neighbours – a vocation that often leads to distress and violence. As such she begins to question her own allegiance to the church, which is challenged even further with the return of her handicapped,...
Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) is a lonely middle aged Austrian woman, who has devoted her life to Jesus Christ, intensely and passionately abiding by the teachings of the Bible, methodically self-punishing herself to prove her dedication and commitment to her religion. Though working as a nurse, in her spare time she goes door to door to preach the Catholic religion to her neighbours – a vocation that often leads to distress and violence. As such she begins to question her own allegiance to the church, which is challenged even further with the return of her handicapped,...
- 7/3/2013
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The films of Ulrich Seidl – including the latest, Paradise: Love – show human behaviour in unsparing and explicit close-up. The aim, he says, is for the viewers to see themselves
Any old auteur can knock out a trilogy but it takes a special kind of genius to make one by accident. This is the position in which the 60-year-old Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl finds himself. He receives me on a rainy afternoon in the Vienna office of his production company. Finger snacks of psychedelic hues (bright purple cabbage, unidentified pistachio-green paste) are spread out before us. A chintzy lamp dangling above us melts the food until the toppings start creeping off the bread; a signed portrait of Erich Von Stroheim looks on magisterially from the wall. Seidl himself is dressed head to toe in black: black waistcoat over a black shirt, black trousers, black shoes. His spiky-fluffy brown hair and bristly beard are speckled with silver.
Any old auteur can knock out a trilogy but it takes a special kind of genius to make one by accident. This is the position in which the 60-year-old Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl finds himself. He receives me on a rainy afternoon in the Vienna office of his production company. Finger snacks of psychedelic hues (bright purple cabbage, unidentified pistachio-green paste) are spread out before us. A chintzy lamp dangling above us melts the food until the toppings start creeping off the bread; a signed portrait of Erich Von Stroheim looks on magisterially from the wall. Seidl himself is dressed head to toe in black: black waistcoat over a black shirt, black trousers, black shoes. His spiky-fluffy brown hair and bristly beard are speckled with silver.
- 6/13/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
On the surface it seemed one of the stranger matches of the 20th century: the serious, award-winning dramatic actress Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, and the man whose fertile imagination introduced both flatulence around an Old West campfire and a singing-dancing Adolf Hitler to the silver screen, Melvin Kaminsky. Or, as the world knew them, Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. Asked about the couple's marriage, which lasted from 1964 until her death from uterine cancer in 2005, an introspective Brooks says in the new PBS American Masters documentary Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, "You know, it took because Anne and I both grew up during the marriage,...
- 5/19/2013
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Confirming that New Girl’s Nick is basically just lucky to be alive, the Fox series has cast Emmy-winning Justified villain Margo Martindale as the character’s “hard-nosed, emotional mother”—this only a few weeks after Dennis Farina dropped by to play his con man dad. Martindale, whom everyone will be watching closely, just waiting for her to poison someone, will appear in a March episode as the gang travels to Nick’s hometown of Chicago, where everyone is terrible. She joins a season that’s already introduced Rob Reiner and Jamie Lee Curtis as Jess’ parents and Anna Maria ...
- 2/7/2013
- avclub.com
Unforgivable
Directed by André Téchiné
Written by André Téchiné and Mehdi Ben Attia
France, 2011
There have certainly been worse cases of writer’s block, but the main character in the new French film Unforgivable really lets his spin out of control. Unforgivable, from co-writer and director André Téchiné, tells an almost Hitchcockian story of how paranoia can drive people to ridiculous lengths. Téchiné’s unique decision to let the script itself not be so single-minded is both a breath of fresh air and a bit of a detriment to the film’s overall impact.
André Dussolier plays Francis, a bestselling crime novelist who just can’t find the inspiration to push him forward in the writing process. Unable to focus in his homeland of France, Francis decides to move to Venice to re-commit to his latest work of fiction. While finding a place to stay, he becomes enamored with his real estate agent,...
Directed by André Téchiné
Written by André Téchiné and Mehdi Ben Attia
France, 2011
There have certainly been worse cases of writer’s block, but the main character in the new French film Unforgivable really lets his spin out of control. Unforgivable, from co-writer and director André Téchiné, tells an almost Hitchcockian story of how paranoia can drive people to ridiculous lengths. Téchiné’s unique decision to let the script itself not be so single-minded is both a breath of fresh air and a bit of a detriment to the film’s overall impact.
André Dussolier plays Francis, a bestselling crime novelist who just can’t find the inspiration to push him forward in the writing process. Unable to focus in his homeland of France, Francis decides to move to Venice to re-commit to his latest work of fiction. While finding a place to stay, he becomes enamored with his real estate agent,...
- 9/28/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Strand Releasing has acquired all Us rights to the Ulrich Seidl trilogy "Paradise" "Paradise: Love," "Paradise: Faith: and "Paradise: Hope." "Paradise: Love" made its world premiere in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. "Paradise: Faith" just had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the jury prize. "Paradise: Love" is set on the beaches of Kenya, where European “Sugar Mamas” seek male companionship. The film focuses on Teresa, a 50-year-old Austrian mother who buys the affections of the men on the island. "Paradise: Faith" focuses on Teresa’s sister, Anna Maria, a single woman in her 50s whose husband, an Egyptian Muslim confined to a wheelchair, returns and throws her life off balance. "Paradise: Hope" will premiere in 2013 and deals with Teresa’s daughter, who finds love when she goes to a diet camp for...
- 9/9/2012
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
★★★☆☆ Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy began with Paradise: Love (2012), first screened just a few months ago in Cannes. Each film takes as its protagonist one of three sisters, who seem to be at a point of crisis in their lives. For Love, the first sister was on a trip to Africa to find, if not love, at least loving. In Paradise: Faith (2012), Anna Maria (Maria Hofstätter) takes a holiday from her job as a nurse to devote herself to her religious work.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 8/31/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Francis (André Dussollier) is a French mystery writer looking for a place to work on his new novel. He sets his sights on a small island off the coast of Venice, but when he falls for Judith (Carole Bouquet) the real estate agent he tells her he’ll only take the house if she agrees to move in with him. Many months later the two are married, and while she boats back and forth to Venice each day for work he spends the solitary afternoons struggling with writer’s block. Things take a darker turn when his adult daughter, Alice (Mélanie Thierry), arrives with her own daughter for a visit then promptly disappears. Worried, he hires a retired private eye and ex-lover of Judith’s named Anna Maria (Andriani Asti) to help find her. His actions take a toll on his relationship, and he hires Anna Maria’s ex-convict son, Jérémie...
- 8/10/2012
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Those of you who read my review of Sleeping Beauty at last year’s festival might remember that I said the film was probably the least sexual film I had ever seen, despite its boob count. I would hereby like to categorically and unreservedly retract that statement in full. Because I have just seen Ulrich Seidl‘s Paradise: Love, a two-hour-long spectacle of supposedly renewed self-discovery through sex tourism that spends all together too much time fascinated with its exotic subjects (both European and African) and too little time asking any of the pressing questions it brings up. The film follows Anna Maria (Margarethe Tiesel), an Austrian single mother, the wrong side of fifty and in a miserable floundering rut that she uses as her excuse to take a solo trip to Kenya in search of good times – a concept those familiar with Seidl would be forgiven for thinking he wouldn’t have any concept of. She...
- 5/17/2012
- by Simon Gallagher
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Following his recent resignation as BSkyB executive chairman and presumed heir to the News Corporation empire, we've uncovered ten fascinating facts about James Murdoch... and we didn't even have to hack his phone to get them. 1. James was born James Rupert Jacob Murdoch in Wimbledon, London on December 13, 1972. His Scottish-born mother, Anna Maria Torv, was a journalist in Australia who wrote a couple of romantic novels. His father, Rupert, is a little-known media tycoon. 2. Through his mother, James is first cousin of Anna Torv, who plays Olivia Dunham in sci-fi TV show Fringe. A member of a shady organisation that uses morally ambiguous FBI-style tactics to investigate mysterious goings-on, James Murdoch often visits his famous cousin in New York. 3. While at school in the Us, James got some work experience at the Sydney Daily Mirror. During (more)...
- 4/5/2012
- by By Harry Kind
- Digital Spy
In what could be big news, Pink News is reporting that Catholic Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien is giving a speech Sunday removing opposition to civil marriages in the UK, but says the church will still oppose same-sex marriages taking place in churches, Catholic or not. Of course, this is probably an excellent April Fool's Day joke, and I do say excellent as it was written subtly.
In news that I'm going to assume is an April Fool's Day prank, they're also reporting that Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering replacing Mickey Rourke in the Gareth Thomas movie. Can't they find someone Gareth's own age?
But what appears to be true about Arnold is that he, Danny DeVito and Eddie Murphy are planning a sequel to Twins called Triplets. Because the world really needs that.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that a man tried to extort money from Major League baseball's Carl Pavano...
In news that I'm going to assume is an April Fool's Day prank, they're also reporting that Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering replacing Mickey Rourke in the Gareth Thomas movie. Can't they find someone Gareth's own age?
But what appears to be true about Arnold is that he, Danny DeVito and Eddie Murphy are planning a sequel to Twins called Triplets. Because the world really needs that.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that a man tried to extort money from Major League baseball's Carl Pavano...
- 4/1/2012
- by lostinmiami
- The Backlot
This accomplished, naturalistic tale of a girl preparing for her confirmation in southern Italy feels autobiographical
This first fiction feature from a 30-year-old Italian director feels densely observed, transparently personal and autobiographical, despite being notionally based on a novel of the same name by Anna Maria Ortese. Marta, played by non-professional newcomer Yle Vianello, is a 13-year-old preparing for confirmation in southern Italy under the tutelage of Don Mario, a withdrawn and jaded priest, secretly angling for a more prestigious living elsewhere. He is played by Salvatore Cantalupo, last seen here in Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah. Marta and the other kids are being coached by the motherly, stressed-out Santa (Pasqualina Scuncia) who has to deal with her complex feelings of betrayal at Don Mario's plans, which climax in his faintly bizarre quest to salvage a crucifix from an abandoned church in his home village – whose elderly priest has an ambiguous,...
This first fiction feature from a 30-year-old Italian director feels densely observed, transparently personal and autobiographical, despite being notionally based on a novel of the same name by Anna Maria Ortese. Marta, played by non-professional newcomer Yle Vianello, is a 13-year-old preparing for confirmation in southern Italy under the tutelage of Don Mario, a withdrawn and jaded priest, secretly angling for a more prestigious living elsewhere. He is played by Salvatore Cantalupo, last seen here in Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah. Marta and the other kids are being coached by the motherly, stressed-out Santa (Pasqualina Scuncia) who has to deal with her complex feelings of betrayal at Don Mario's plans, which climax in his faintly bizarre quest to salvage a crucifix from an abandoned church in his home village – whose elderly priest has an ambiguous,...
- 3/30/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Ed Helms recently talked about what it was like living in New York City and admitted that his food of choice while there was pizza.
"I moved to New York right after college.. I had pizza for about five years... Anna Maria's on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg," Helms said. "I literally survived on Anna Maria's for years. Chicken pizza, barbeque chicken pizza,. I'm telling you, they just do it amazing in Brooklyn."...
"I moved to New York right after college.. I had pizza for about five years... Anna Maria's on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg," Helms said. "I literally survived on Anna Maria's for years. Chicken pizza, barbeque chicken pizza,. I'm telling you, they just do it amazing in Brooklyn."...
- 3/15/2012
- by rnazarali
- Foodista
Impardonnables (English title: Unforgivable)
Directed by André Téchiné
Written by André Téchiné and Mehdi Ben Attia
France, 2011
French director and screenwriter André Téchiné has had a long and illustrious career, earning critical acclaim for a great variety of films. His works date as far back as 1969, the year he released his debut, Aline s’en va. Among the common threads which tie in his works are the complicated interactions and strained relationships between his characters, who are continuously confronted with emotional challenges they would much rather not deal with. The wealth they sometimes possess is belittled in the face of various interpersonal hardships. Another is that he adapts almost exclusively original scripts, oftentimes playing a major role in the writing process. For Impardonnables, his latest feature film, the inspiration differs, for it is based on a novel of the same name from Philippe Dijan. Dealing with a vastly different screenwriting process,...
Directed by André Téchiné
Written by André Téchiné and Mehdi Ben Attia
France, 2011
French director and screenwriter André Téchiné has had a long and illustrious career, earning critical acclaim for a great variety of films. His works date as far back as 1969, the year he released his debut, Aline s’en va. Among the common threads which tie in his works are the complicated interactions and strained relationships between his characters, who are continuously confronted with emotional challenges they would much rather not deal with. The wealth they sometimes possess is belittled in the face of various interpersonal hardships. Another is that he adapts almost exclusively original scripts, oftentimes playing a major role in the writing process. For Impardonnables, his latest feature film, the inspiration differs, for it is based on a novel of the same name from Philippe Dijan. Dealing with a vastly different screenwriting process,...
- 2/8/2012
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Here are the ten Shooting Stars of 2012 -- "Young, talented, European" -- who the European Film Promotion will showcase at the Berlin International Film Festival (February 9-19). (They were culled from 23 nominees.) The Efp has been choosing and showcasing young actors for fifteen years, helping them transition to the next level of their careers. Past Shooting Stars include Carey Mulligan ("Shame," "An Education"), Elena Anaya ("The Skin I Live in") and Mélanie Laurent ("Beginners," "Inglourious Basterds"). Shooting Stars 2012: France: Adèle Haenel ("House of Tolerance"), Germany: Anna Maria...
- 1/12/2012
- Thompson on Hollywood
Puppets such as those in Kneehigh's latest production seem supernaturally skilled at manipulating our heartstrings
It's pretty obvious that puppets are having a bit of a theatrical moment. The internet is heaving with articles celebrating the National's runaway success, War Horse, huge crowds still clamour for Avenue Q (soon to be on tour again) and many respected experimental theatre companies now incorporate puppetry in their shows. The power of the puppet is undoubtedly surging – and in many ways it's downright baffling. They're just prettily decorated wooden sticks, dammit; how can they bring a story to life?
And yet, when they work well, puppet shows are often heartfelt, profoundly moving experiences. There's something about these wonderfully (un)wooden creations that seems to deeply touch an audience. Perhaps it's down to the simple stories that puppets help portray. After all, unless you want a hideously overburdened narrator, a puppet show plot has to be relatively straightforward.
It's pretty obvious that puppets are having a bit of a theatrical moment. The internet is heaving with articles celebrating the National's runaway success, War Horse, huge crowds still clamour for Avenue Q (soon to be on tour again) and many respected experimental theatre companies now incorporate puppetry in their shows. The power of the puppet is undoubtedly surging – and in many ways it's downright baffling. They're just prettily decorated wooden sticks, dammit; how can they bring a story to life?
And yet, when they work well, puppet shows are often heartfelt, profoundly moving experiences. There's something about these wonderfully (un)wooden creations that seems to deeply touch an audience. Perhaps it's down to the simple stories that puppets help portray. After all, unless you want a hideously overburdened narrator, a puppet show plot has to be relatively straightforward.
- 12/19/2011
- by Miriam Gillinson
- The Guardian - Film News
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